dlm4mh

@dlm4mh

Posts made by dlm4mh

I updated this profile to fix a problem with the ending script. The original profile did not home the Z axis at the end of the print before moving away. If the print was too tall, the nozzle would drag across the print and topple it over or course damage to the nozzle. The ending script now homes the Z-axis before moving the nozzle to the back left corner of the bed.

In MatterControl 2 I can slice a model and export the gcode. But I have not discovered anyway to later import the gcode into MatterControl to print it. (Of course I realize that if I recalibrated the printer after the gcode was created, I would need to reslice to get the Pulse bed leveling.) What am I missing?

I created a profile for the Pulse in Simplify3D by starting with the Prusa I3 profile. Then I sliced a file under Matter Control and copied the start and end scripts (with some slight modifications) into the scripts section in Simplify 3D. The profile is posted at web4dmarch.com/3dprint.

WARNING - the profile has a Z-Axis offset in the G-code section of -0.64 which is a value that works for my Pulse XE. I determined this value by watching the first layer Z values for a print sliced with MatterControl with auto bed leveling and estimated the average at about -0.44. A Z offset of -0.64 plus a first layer height of 0.2 gives a Simplify3D Z value of -0.44 for the first layer. Although the auto leveling has a range of values, I am able to get a decent first layer.

SIDE EFFECT - with a negative Z offset, when you slice in Simplify3D, the first layers appear below the bed when you "Prepare to Print" the model.

Mystery solved. Because the only fractions that can be precisely defined in binary are fractions with powers of 2 in the denominator, it turns out that floor(1.2/ 0.4)=2 and not the expected three. The MatterControl slicer must not allow for the imprecision and it assumes there are only two 0.4 perimeters and since there is no single extrusion gap fill (ala Simplify 3D) that I have found, it prints the two perimeters and leaves the gap. I have found that if a change the wall to be 1.21, the slicer sees three perimeters except when there are fillets on the corners. Using 1.22, the slicer also sees three perimeters for the corners.

This is not an elegant solution. One that might work universally is to set the nozzle to 0.39999999 in the slicer but I have not tried that.

On two different models I have a basic box with walls that are 1.2 mm (3 nozzle width) thick. When I slice using MatterControl and print, three of the walls are solid with three perimeters but a fourth wall only has the inside and outside perimeter with a gap in the middle. This does not occur with Simplify3D sliced models with the proper settings. Does anyone know which setting(s) I need to adjust in MatterControl to solve this problem? Would prefer to slice in MatterControl to take advantage of the auto bed leveling on the Pulse.

@susanofrg Simplify 3D has the ability to create multiple processes which allows you to change anything in the profile at any layer. But there are two problems: 1) It costs $150 and 2) if you have something like a Pulse printer you can not take advantage of the automatic bed leveling.